This book is the story of people of vision and courage, of a small group of prominent Saint Augustine investors who conceived of the Florida waterway and began the first dredging work; of an obscure group of New England capitalists who provided significant financing and obtained a million acres of undeveloped Florida public land in pursuing what was, at best, a speculative enterprise; of innumerable citizen groups like the Florida east coast chamber associations and the larger Atlantic Deeper Waterways Association that demanded at the turn of the last century what they believed was the peoples right-a public waterway, free of the burden of tolls; and finally, of the U>S> Army Corps of Engineers, who conducted all of the Florida waterway's early surveys and assumed the project's control in 1929 to convert what was once a private toll way into Florida's modern-day, toll-free Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway.

Find your way down the Intracoastal Waterway between the Chesapeake Bay and Florida The Intracoastal Waterway Chartbook provides a complete set of navigational charts (a $350 value) for the 1,090-mile ICW from Norfolk to Miami, as well as major Atlantic inlets, in a single, easy-to-use $70 package. Proven over 16 years and four prior editions, the Chartbook includes a complete listing of waterway bridge and lock characteristics, anchorages and waterway facilities; also pilotage notes, mileage charts, and charts for a picturesque alternate route.

Rivers have tumbled down mountains and floated lazily through flat plains in the US since long before Europeans first came to this continent. They were the only highways Native Americans used or needed. Even America’s first settlers found it much easier to travel on the waterways than to build roads through the forests. Today our inland waterways carry millions of tons of cargo each year. But our waterways have not received the attention needed to continue their important role in the commerce of our country. Waterways infrastructure such as locks, dams, channels, and levees need help. Many elements are old and need repair or replacement. Expanded infrastructure would allow the US to increase shipping on the waterways. Shipping via water has always been cheaper than shipping by land and remains so today. The US economy can only benefit from investment in our inland waterways.